TradieCall vs ReceptionHQ
TradieCall vs ReceptionHQ: flat-rate AI or per-call humans?
ReceptionHQ is one of the better-known outsourced phone answering services available in NZ: real receptionists, established company, low headline prices. TradieCall is an AI receptionist built for NZ tradies at a flat monthly rate. The right pick depends on when your phone rings and how you want to pay for it.
Who ReceptionHQ is, in plain terms
ReceptionHQ is the New Zealand-facing brand of OfficeHQ Pty Ltd, an Australian answering service company. If you land on OfficeHQ's site as an NZ buyer, you get routed to the ReceptionHQ brand; same company, same service. When your diverted call comes in, a human receptionist answers in your business name, takes a message, and passes it on. They've been doing this for a long time and it works.
The headline pricing looks cheap. As published August 2026, plans start at NZD $19/mo ex GST for MessageExpress, $20/mo for MyReceptionist, and $49/mo for MyAssistant. But those base fees are the entry price, not the bill. The real cost of a human answering service lives in the per-call rates, and for a trade business the fine print matters more than the sticker.
Where the per-call model bites a tradie
Per ReceptionHQ's published pricing and terms, as at August 2026, every call above your plan's allowance carries an excess: roughly $1.90–$2.00 per call on MessageExpress, $2.95–$3.20 per call on MyReceptionist, and $2.45–$2.85 per minute on MyAssistant and MyDiary. All ex GST.
Then there's the after-hours surcharge: $0.60–$1.00 per call (or $0.80 per minute) for calls outside 8am–6pm Monday to Friday, and on public holidays. Read that window again as a tradie. The burst pipe at 9pm, the Saturday callout, the long-weekend no-power call: the exact calls you can't afford to miss are the ones that cost extra to answer. A human service prices this way because humans on night shifts cost more. Fair enough. It just means the surcharge lands on your best jobs.
Two more things worth knowing from their published terms. Appointment booking isn't part of the answering plans; it's a separate product called MyDiary, from $49/mo plus a setup fee. And there are $30 admin fees for things like cancellation refunds and reinstatement, with a 3-day cancellation notice period. On the cheaper plans, calls can also overflow to UK or US receptionists at peak times, so the voice answering your Auckland customer at a busy moment may not be local.
TradieCall's model is the opposite shape: $129, $249 or $449 per month, NZD including GST, with 24/7 answering included and no after-hours surcharge, no per-call excess, and diary booking included on the Pro plan. A flat-out February costs the same as a quiet June. We've broken down the maths across every option on our virtual receptionist cost guide, and if you're weighing up a human at the other end of the scale, see TradieCall vs hiring a receptionist.
Side by side, without the spin
| ReceptionHQ | TradieCall | |
|---|---|---|
| Flat monthly price with no per-call excessReceptionHQ excess ~$1.90–$3.20/call depending on plan (published Aug 2026) | ||
| 24/7 answering with no after-hours surchargeReceptionHQ: $0.60–$1.00/call surcharge outside 8am–6pm weekdays and public holidays | ||
| Appointment booking includedReceptionHQ's MyDiary is a separate product from $49/mo + setup; TradieCall includes booking on Pro | ||
| Structured job sheet by text and email within a minuteReceptionHQ relays messages; TradieCall sends a job sheet by text and email on every plan | ||
| A real human answers | ||
| Human judgement on complex or sensitive callsTradieCall captures details and flags urgency, but it isn't a person | ||
| Same answering at 2am as 2pmReceptionHQ's cheaper plans can overflow to UK/US receptionists at peak times | ||
| Prices published in NZD including GSTReceptionHQ publishes ex-GST pricing | ||
| Transcript and recording of every callnot listed on ReceptionHQ's published plan pages as at Aug 2026 | ||
| 7-day free trial |
ReceptionHQ prices and features as published at time of writing (August 2026). Check their current pricing page and terms for up-to-date details.
Where a human receptionist genuinely wins
An honest comparison has to say this clearly: there are calls a human handles better. A caller who's upset about a job that went wrong. A commercial client who wants to talk through a variation before committing. An elderly customer who just wants a person and will hang up on anything that isn't one. Human receptionists read tone, improvise, and carry warmth that AI approximates but doesn't match. If those calls are the bulk of your phone traffic, a human service is the better tool and you should buy one.
What TradieCall does instead is answer instantly, at any hour, in a natural Kiwi voice, in your business name. It captures the name, number, address, what the job is and how urgent it is, then texts and emails you the job sheet within a minute. Every call gets a transcript and recording. It never invents prices on your behalf, and spam calls are blocked without being billed. On Pro, it flags urgent jobs and can transfer a live caller straight to you. That's the trade-off in one line: ReceptionHQ gives you a person during a call; TradieCall gives you every call, all hours, at one price. More on how the AI side works on our AI receptionist page.
Who should pick ReceptionHQ
If you run a business that gets a handful of calls a week, mostly between 8am and 6pm on weekdays, and your callers expect a human, ReceptionHQ is a sensible buy. At low call volume the per-call excess barely registers, the after-hours surcharge rarely triggers, and you get a professional human front for less than a takeaway coffee habit. Plenty of office-hours businesses fit that shape.
Trade businesses usually don't. Trade calls cluster at nights, weekends and smoko breaks, they demand a fast answer before the caller rings the next number, and a good month means more calls, not fewer. That's the shape TradieCall was built for. Setup takes about 10 minutes, you keep your existing number with a forwarding code, and there's no lock-in contract. See how it stacks up against every option on our phone answering service comparison, what it looks like for plumbers and electricians, or compare us against the other AI receptionist courting NZ tradies: TradieCall vs Johnni.ai.
Fair questions before you choose
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